Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has pledged to give away approximately $1.7 million dollars of prize money he is being awarded for his spiritual contributions at a ceremony at an Anglican cathedral in London this week.

The Dalai Lama is receiving the grand award from the Templeton Prize in London for exceptional contribution to "affirming life's spiritual dimension," the BBC shared. The official website of the award praises the Buddhist monk by stating:

"The 'big questions' he raises -- such as 'Can compassion be trained or taught?' -- reflect the deep interest of the founder of the Templeton Prize, the late Sir John Templeton, in seeking to bring scientific methods to the study of spiritual claims and thus foster the spiritual progress that the Prize has recognized for the past 40 years."

The award, being presented at St Paul's Cathedral in London on Monday, May 14, has also been received by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the first ever recipient in 1973. The Dalai Lama has said he will be giving all the prize money away to a few different charities. He has promised more than $1 million to Save the Children in India, while the rest of the money will go to the Minds and Life Institute, which researches the partnership between modern science and Buddhism, as well as to a fund set up to educate Tibetan monks about science.

The 14th Dalai Lama, whose followers believe to be the reincarnation of the ancient founder of the Buddhist religion, considered an "enlightened being," apparently spoke before the ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral warning British people against feeling "hopeless" and "helpless" in the face of economic troubles.

"With an increasing reliance on technological advances to solve the world's problems, humanity also seeks the reassurance that only a spiritual quest can answer," the Templeton foundation's president, Dr John Templeton, has said. "The Dalai Lama offers a universal voice of compassion underpinned by a love and respect for spiritually relevant scientific research that centers on every single human being,"